Fernando Pereira
Encyclopedia
Fernando Pereira was a freelance Dutch
photographer, of Portuguese
origin, who drowned when French
intelligence (DGSE) used two underwater mines to sink the ship Rainbow Warrior
, owned by the environmental organisation Greenpeace
on July 10, 1985 (see sinking of the Rainbow Warrior
).
The bombing of the boat had been designed to make the ship unsalvagable. The first smaller bomb bent the shaft, making repair uneconomic. Pereira stayed inside the boat to get his camera and other pieces of equipment. The second, more powerful explosion, designed to sink the boat, caused a huge inrush of seawater and drowned Fernando.
The Rainbow Warrior led a flotilla of yachts protesting against French nuclear testing
at Mururoa Atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago of French Polynesia
and was about to depart Auckland for a campaign of legal demonstrations in international waters near the French military operational areas at Moruroa Atoll
.
from Vanuatu
three days earlier - a week after President Haruo Remeliik had been assassinated in Belau. Greenpeace campaigners were preparing the former North Sea fishing trawler for the environmental group's biggest-ever protest voyage to Mururoa, one which they hoped would alert the world over France's nuclear testing and radioactive poisoning of the oceans. On board, supporters celebrated the 29th birthday of Steve Sawyer, the American co-ordinator of the Pacific Peace Voyage.
Unknown to the Greenpeace activists, French secret agents Jacques Camurier and Alain Tonel, had set off in an inflatable dinghy across the 2 km stretch of the harbour from Mechanics Bay. When they arrived, they both swam underwater with the bombs, clamp and rope to the stern of the Rainbow Warrior. Tonel attached the smaller, 10 kilo bomb to the propeller shaft. Camurier fixed the clamp on to the keel and ran out a rope to pinpoint a spot to attach the larger bomb next to the engineroom.
The hull explosive would sink the ship, the propeller mine would cripple it. Both bombs were timed to explode in just over three hours, at 11.50 pm. The explosives laid, the Frenchmen headed back to their hidden Zodiac.
The first blast ripped a hole the size of a garage door in the engine room. The force of the explosion was so powerful that a freighter on the other side of Marsden Wharf was thrown five metres sideways. As the Rainbow Warrior rapidly sank until the keel touched the harbor floor, the shocked crew scrambled on to the wharf. But Pereira dashed down a narrow stairway to one of the stern cabins to rescue his expensive cameras. The second explosion probably stunned him and he drowned with his camera straps tangled around his legs.
Fernando's daughter, Marelle, aged eight at the time of his death, in June 1995 appealed in the French newspaper Libération
to anybody who was involved in the bombing operation to tell her fully what had happened in the bombing. "Now I am 18, I am an adult and I think by now I have the right to know exactly what events transpired surrounding the explosion which cost my father his life", she wrote. She also travelled to New Zealand to interview former Prime Minister David Lange
and Greenpeace campaigners who sailed on the Rainbow Warrior.
had personally authorized the bombing. Admiral Pierre Lacoste made a statement saying Pereira's death weighed heavily on his conscience. Also on that anniversary, Television New Zealand
sought to access a video record made at the preliminary hearing where the two agents pleaded guilty. The footage has remained sealed on the court record since shortly after the conclusion of the criminal proceedings. The two agents oppose release of the footage—despite having both written books themselves on the incident—and have taken the case to the New Zealand Court of Appeal and, subsequently, the Supreme Court of New Zealand.
In 2006, Antoine Royal, brother of the French presidential candidate Segolene Royal
, revealed in an interview that their brother, Gérard Royal
a former French intelligence officer had been the agent who put the bombs on the Rainbow Warrior.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
photographer, of Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
origin, who drowned when French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
intelligence (DGSE) used two underwater mines to sink the ship Rainbow Warrior
Rainbow Warrior (1978)
The Rainbow Warrior was a former UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food trawler later purchased by the environmental organisation Greenpeace...
, owned by the environmental organisation Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
on July 10, 1985 (see sinking of the Rainbow Warrior
Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior
The sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, codenamed Opération Satanique, was an operation by the "action" branch of the French foreign intelligence services, the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure , carried out on July 10, 1985...
).
The bombing of the boat had been designed to make the ship unsalvagable. The first smaller bomb bent the shaft, making repair uneconomic. Pereira stayed inside the boat to get his camera and other pieces of equipment. The second, more powerful explosion, designed to sink the boat, caused a huge inrush of seawater and drowned Fernando.
The Rainbow Warrior led a flotilla of yachts protesting against French nuclear testing
Nuclear testing
Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the effectiveness, yield and explosive capability of nuclear weapons. Throughout the twentieth century, most nations that have developed nuclear weapons have tested them...
at Mururoa Atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago of French Polynesia
French Polynesia
French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
and was about to depart Auckland for a campaign of legal demonstrations in international waters near the French military operational areas at Moruroa Atoll
Moruroa
Moruroa , also historically known as Aopuni, is an atoll which forms part of the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia in the southern Pacific Ocean...
.
The night of the bombing
The Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior lay moored at Auckland's Marsden Wharf on Wednesday, 10 July 1985. It had arrived in New ZealandNew Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
from Vanuatu
Vanuatu
Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
three days earlier - a week after President Haruo Remeliik had been assassinated in Belau. Greenpeace campaigners were preparing the former North Sea fishing trawler for the environmental group's biggest-ever protest voyage to Mururoa, one which they hoped would alert the world over France's nuclear testing and radioactive poisoning of the oceans. On board, supporters celebrated the 29th birthday of Steve Sawyer, the American co-ordinator of the Pacific Peace Voyage.
Unknown to the Greenpeace activists, French secret agents Jacques Camurier and Alain Tonel, had set off in an inflatable dinghy across the 2 km stretch of the harbour from Mechanics Bay. When they arrived, they both swam underwater with the bombs, clamp and rope to the stern of the Rainbow Warrior. Tonel attached the smaller, 10 kilo bomb to the propeller shaft. Camurier fixed the clamp on to the keel and ran out a rope to pinpoint a spot to attach the larger bomb next to the engineroom.
The hull explosive would sink the ship, the propeller mine would cripple it. Both bombs were timed to explode in just over three hours, at 11.50 pm. The explosives laid, the Frenchmen headed back to their hidden Zodiac.
The first blast ripped a hole the size of a garage door in the engine room. The force of the explosion was so powerful that a freighter on the other side of Marsden Wharf was thrown five metres sideways. As the Rainbow Warrior rapidly sank until the keel touched the harbor floor, the shocked crew scrambled on to the wharf. But Pereira dashed down a narrow stairway to one of the stern cabins to rescue his expensive cameras. The second explosion probably stunned him and he drowned with his camera straps tangled around his legs.
Fernando's daughter, Marelle, aged eight at the time of his death, in June 1995 appealed in the French newspaper Libération
Libération
Libération is a French daily newspaper founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Originally a leftist newspaper, it has undergone a number of shifts during the 1980s and 1990s...
to anybody who was involved in the bombing operation to tell her fully what had happened in the bombing. "Now I am 18, I am an adult and I think by now I have the right to know exactly what events transpired surrounding the explosion which cost my father his life", she wrote. She also travelled to New Zealand to interview former Prime Minister David Lange
David Lange
David Russell Lange, ONZ, CH , served as the 32nd Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1984 to 1989. He headed New Zealand's fourth Labour Government, one of the most reforming administrations in his country's history, but one which did not always conform to traditional expectations of a...
and Greenpeace campaigners who sailed on the Rainbow Warrior.
Subsequent updates
On the twentieth anniversary of the sinking, it was revealed that the French president François MitterrandFrançois Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
had personally authorized the bombing. Admiral Pierre Lacoste made a statement saying Pereira's death weighed heavily on his conscience. Also on that anniversary, Television New Zealand
Television New Zealand
Television New Zealand, more commonly referred to, and stylized as TVNZ, is a government-owned corporation television network broadcasting in New Zealand and parts of the Pacific. It operates TV1, TV2, TVNZ7, TVNZ Heartland, TVNZ U and new media services....
sought to access a video record made at the preliminary hearing where the two agents pleaded guilty. The footage has remained sealed on the court record since shortly after the conclusion of the criminal proceedings. The two agents oppose release of the footage—despite having both written books themselves on the incident—and have taken the case to the New Zealand Court of Appeal and, subsequently, the Supreme Court of New Zealand.
In 2006, Antoine Royal, brother of the French presidential candidate Segolene Royal
Ségolène Royal
Marie-Ségolène Royal , known as Ségolène Royal, is a French politician. She is the president of the Poitou-Charentes Regional Council, a former member of the National Assembly, a former government minister, and a prominent member of the French Socialist Party...
, revealed in an interview that their brother, Gérard Royal
Gérard Royal
Gérard Royal is a former agent of the French intelligence agency Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure , who is accused of being one of those responsible for the bombing of the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior...
a former French intelligence officer had been the agent who put the bombs on the Rainbow Warrior.
External links
- "Death of a Rainbow Warrior," July 10, 2005 (20th anniversary), Greenpeace website.
- www.rainbow-warrior.org.nz - article on the twentieth anniversary (2005).
- "The French Secret Service Agents - Where Are They Now?" - Greenpeace archives
- "New Zealand won't reopen Rainbow Warrior case" - New York Times (October 3, 2006)
- France Must Pay Greenpeace $8 Million in Sinking of Ship New York Times (October 3, 1987)
- France, Despite Wide Protests, Explodes a Nuclear Device New York Times (September 6, 1995)